Monthly Archives: January 2022

CO state level politics, CO state regulatory agencies, COGCC, Polis administration, SB-181

Former State Senator Mike Foote Releases Report on Less Than Effective Implementation of SB19-181

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Folks:

We received the communication below from our friends at the Sierra Club, and if you detect a note of sarcasm in the subject line of this message, it is intentional. Former State Senator Mike Foote was one of the principal authors of Senate Bill 19-181, which was to change the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The report he has issued is damning to say the least. We will attach the document to this note, and we will post it on our blog as well. This is not encouraging, but we are aware there are members of the State Legislature that are looking to improve this situation. The message from Sierra Club incudes a link to their press release and to the report document as well. We have work to do, people. . . 


Hi folks,

 As you might know, former Senator Mike Foote was a prime sponsor of SB19-181, which changed the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from one of fostering production to protecting the health, safety, welfare of people and biological resources and the environment.   

Last week, Foote released a report that, in a thorough analysis of the COGCC’s activities during the last year, compares SB19-181’s original intent to its implementation.  He concludes that, so far, the agency’s actions are not consistent with the requirements of SB19-181 to protect health, safety, the environment, and wildlife.  

Please find the report, “COGCC One Year After Mission Change” attached, and Sierra Club’s press release.


 Thank you,

photo Alexis SchwartzPolitical OrganizerPronouns: She/Her/Hers1536 Wynkoop Street, Suite 200Denver, CO 80202850-766-6320 (c)alexis.schwartz@sierraclub.org
COGCC-One-Year-After-Mission-Change-1

COGCC, COGCC Rulemaking Hearings, Financial Assurance

my comment to cogcc financial assurances rulemaking hearing january 20, 2022

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Good evening, Commissioners

My name is Edward Behan, and I am a resident of Fort Collins, Colorado. I am here to express my concern about proposals for financial assurance requirements to be exercised on oil and gas operations in Colorado.

I think it is very important to require sufficient bonding from an oil and gas operator to cover the costs of plugging a well at the end of its service life, and to restore the land upon which it was operated. This is a concern to me whether it is a new drilling operation, or if a company is taking over an existing site for further exploitation. I am also seriously concerned about those wells that are simply abandoned by some operators if they have financial difficulties. It is clear that some outfits are more meticulous about their responsibility for these costs than others. It is not right that the State of Colorado and its taxpayers should pick up the bill for reclaiming any drilling site that has been abandoned without proper closure and restoration. Nor would that be fair to any operator who does execute their final operations responsibly.

Before my wife and I moved back to Colorado in 2016, we lived for fifteen years in the Gulf Coast region of Texas and Louisiana. The last eight years in Baton Rouge were particularly instructive. We were there at the time of the BP oil spill, and in the aftermath of that tragic accident, there was much discussion about other elements of how the industry had been acting in that area for decades. Plugged and abandoned wells both onshore and offshore, that were supposedly sealed, were leaking. Pipeline tracks and canals that had serviced the drilling operations throughout Louisiana’s fragile wetlands had never been restored to their original condition, and that damage has contributed to the loss of coastal wetlands. The regulatory agencies and the legislature seemingly had no interest in holding the oil companies to the requirements of the agreements that they had signed regarding restoration of the land.

Colorado has a different sort of environment, but one that is equally fragile. The effects of improperly closed out drilling sites will have impact on our air and water quality. The Commission has a unique and weighty responsibility in this, especially under your newer mandate to protect the health, safety and environment in supervising the oil and gas industry.

 I ask that you pay attention to those calling for full cost bonding of individual wells. Those costs may vary, but they need to be calculated to ensure that we taxpayers are not subsidizing their operations, and that proper care is taken of our precious Western environment. Thank you.

COGCC, COGCC Rulemaking Hearings

Sign-up information for cogcc’s financial assurances rulemaking hearings, jan. 20 & 21

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SIGN UP INFORMATION

We don’t want this in Colorado!

COGCC FINANCIAL ASSURANCES

RULEMAKING HEARING

January 20 and 21

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) will hold virtual hearings on their staff’s proposed Financial Assurance Rules. Two online sessions will happen on Thursday, January 20 and one on Friday, January 21. A Zoom sign-up link for making public comments in those sessions can be found here. The deadline to sign up for those sessions is Tuesday, January 18 at 12:00 Noon. Written comments can be entered on the same form at the bottom of the page, and will become part of the public record of these hearings.

It is clear the O&G industry wants to maintain the status quo of the State subsidizing their operations by keeping down the cost of bonding for the recovery and restoration of their well sites. Their estimates of what the full cost to actually clean up a wellpad at the end of its service are woefully inadequate. O&G’s preference for blanket bonding of multiple sites rather than coverage for individual wells is also a problem. Our allies at LOGIC have provided this link which tells the tale of what a mess this can be, and the cost to Colorado taxpayers.

We join in asking for these changes to COGCC staff’s draft of Financial Assurance regulations for the O&G industry in Colorado:

  • The need for bonds that cover all costs of plugging, cleanup and reclamation of every well in the state.
  • Stop the practice of “blanket bonds,” effectively a public subsidy for clean-up costs that perpetuates the orphaned well problem
  • Current financial assurances rules perpetuate the industry’s scam, artificially keeping wells “economical” as operators discount the true cleanup costs, letting the public pick up the bill instead.
  • The COGCC needs to add a per-well fee on operations in the state to generate revenue to clean up orphaned wells.
  • Require full cost bonds for all new wells
  • Require full costs bonds for all transferred wells
  • Require operators to generate a full cost bond for all existing wells in the state in a reasonable amount of time.
  • Require all of the State’s financial assurances rules apply to O&G operations and drilling on federal public lands in Colorado.

Sign up to speak at the COGCC hearings by January 18 at Noon!

Our fundraiser to support legal counsel at these hearings

Stands at $2,495.00 of our goal of $4,000.00

For all you do our thanks!

A more detailed description of this campaign can be found here.

Check out relevant events on our Calendar Page!

COGCC, COGCC Rulemaking Hearings, Financial Assurance

background on new year fundraising campaign to fund legal counsel

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NEW YEAR FUNDRAISER CONTINUES




Video screen captures of abandoned O&G facility in Rio Blanco County
Images generated by and courtesy of Earthworks

LARIMER ALLIANCE IS STILL WORKING TO HELP FUND THE LAWYERS ADVOCATING WITH US FOR BETTER FINANCIAL ASSURANCES RULEMAKING AT THE COGCC

The LarimerAlliance is working to advocate for implementing effective new rules on the oil and gas industry, both locally here in Larimer County and before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC). We are hoping to assist in the funding of lawyers and other technical experts as new financial assurance regulations are developed by the COGCC

The Larimer Alliance is urging the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to require full cost bonding for all new and existing wells, and all wells upon transfer. Colorado taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for day-to-day operations, nor for the pollution, spills, or disasters associated with oil & gas (O&G) operations. The most recent draft of financial assurance rules presents a proposal for blanket bonding of O&G sites, rather than requiring full cost coverage individually for completed operations or abandoned wells. A detailed discussion of the full cost of dealing with wells at the end of their service can be heard in this segment of KUNC’s Colorado Edition, talking with Andrew Forkes-Gudmunson of LOGIC. Examples of continued emissions from an abandoned O&G facility can be seen in Earthworks videos utilizing Optical Gas Imaging enabled by FLIR technology, as seen in the screen captures above and in this blog post.

The LarimerAlliance asks your continued financial support to help compensate an attorney representing us in the final stages of the COGCC financial assurance rulemaking. As party to State level rule making, we have worked in the past with attorneys from the Conservation Groups coalition, which includes organizations such as LOGIC and Earthjustice. We will again collaborate with them at the upcoming hearings for this round of rulemaking, currently scheduled for January and February of 2022, as detailed in this post from the Larimer Alliance blog. Having knowledgeable, skilled, dedicated, and persuasive legal help is imperative to our success.

We’ve set a goal for this drive of $4,000.00, and we have already raised $2,745.00

Our goal is for the COGCC to enact rules so that all new and existing wells, and all wells upon transfer, will be required to carry full cost bonding. Your  continued contributions will help us add a legal expert to aid in advocating on our behalf of this extremely important goal.

The Larimer Alliance will continue to provide

updates on the progress of these hearings,

and on opportunities to provide public comment.

For all you do, our continued thanks!

Or if you prefer please send checks made out to

the Larimer Alliance to401 E. Prospect Rd, Fort Collins, CO 80525